


The Flash Drive

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Series: MacGyver Appreciation Fortnight [5]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 2x22, Episode Tag, Episode: s02e22 UFO + Area 51, MacGyver Appreciation Fortnight Challenge, mac and riles, riley's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 15:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16043462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: Day 5 of MacGyver Appreciation Fortnight: MissionI choose the mission from 2x22 because it's Riley and Mac's first solo mission (that we get to see at least). One of my favorite parts of this mission is that we get to see Riley worrying about Mac and the fact he gave up on his search for his father. It is so sweet the way she tries to convince him to keep up the search and then she accesses a file on his dad and stresses over whether to tell Mac or not.I love this aspect of the episode so much that I wrote a fic expanding on Riley's thoughts during the mission.





	The Flash Drive

Riley was not satisfied by their brief conversation in the elevator. If anything, she was left feeling worse about the whole situation with Mac and his father. It was clear after their conversation that a part of Mac was not really ready to give up on the search for his dad. The other part only wanted to give up because searching and not finding any answers was driving him crazy.

Riley knew that Mac’s search for his dad had quickly become an obsession that threatened to take over his life, but she also knew what it was like to grow up and not know much about your own father. Riley also hated to see Mac give up, his ability to persevere even when times were tough was one of the many things she admired about it.

It was for those reasons that she decided to go through with her plan to get more information on Mac’s dad. As soon as Matty had told Mac and Riley that she amped up their security clearance, Riley had known what she would do with hers. The first chance she got, she used it to access a CIA file that Matty had put together about James MacGyver.

She was shocked at the information she read and her first instinct was to call Mac over and share it with him, but she held back because he had chosen to stop the search and she wanted to respect that.

So instead she called Bozer hoping he would help her with the dilemma, but he wasn’t able to make anything clearer for her. Riley saved the information to a flash drive and decided that she would make a decision later. Right now they had a freaky orb to shoot a laser at.

*****

Riley didn’t miss the expression that crossed Mac’s face when he took the watch or mentioned that it was his father who had taught him how to navigate the stars. The deep pain in his eyes was like a punch in her gut. She couldn’t stand to see him hurting so much.

Riley wanted to bring up the information she had gotten right then and there. She wanted to stop everything and tell Mac that he shouldn’t give up because she had something that might help him finally find his father. She didn’t do that, however, because they were stranded in the middle of the desert being chased by bad guys with guns. Jack might love having heart-to-hearts at times like this, but Riley was a bit more conservative.

She wanted to make sure Mac had his head in the game as much as was possible. So she simply watched as he moved past the painful memories of his father, and got to work.

*****

Riley almost blurted it out the second she and Mac were in the car alone. They had just dropped Dr. Herman off at the hospital and been assured that he would be fine and that they would be kept updated. Now, they were driving back to the airport and Mac was chatting animatedly about his obsession with Area 51 as a kid.

“Most dads probably would’ve tried to encourage their son to find a less geeky hobby, but not my dad. He bought me books and maps and pushed me to go about it in the most scientific way possible. See that was the thing with my dad, everything was a learning experience for him. That has a lot to do with the way I am now…” Mac trailed off, sounding both sad and bitter.

Riley hated to hear him sound like that, but she had already decided that she was going to ask Jack’s advice before moving forward. Bozer may have known Mac the longest and had actually met his dad, but Jack might arguably know Mac better. He’d been a huge part of a side of Mac’s life that Bozer hadn’t even known about until pretty recently. And as partners, Jack and Mac had been forced to quickly learn how the other thought. If anyone would know if she should show the info to Mac, it would be Jack.

“Well, if he helped to make you who you are, then I’d say he at least did something right,” Riley said instead of mentioning the flash drive. “Mac, you have saved all of our lives countless times because of the way you think. If your father helped to encourage that, then I’d say that’s something to be grateful for.” Riley knew that Mac had good memories of his father, and she knew that he struggled to reconcile that with the fact that his father had also abandoned him. She was just hoping he would remember some of the good times and maybe that would encourage him to continue the search.

“I am grateful for the times we had, but I’ve got to move forward Riles, I can’t keep living in the past and trying to recover something that will never be the way it was. My dad choose to leave me for a reason, and maybe it’s best if I never know that reason,” Mac said, looking straight ahead at the road and gripping the wheel hard.

“Are you scared you might not like that reason?”

“Yes,” Mac answered truthfully.

“Mac-” Riley started but was quickly interrupted.

“Hey, do you think Jack has found Marvin yet?” Mac said, changing the topic suddenly and making it clear that he didn’t want to talk about his dad anymore.

“Nah, we probably would’ve heard his scream,” Riley said with a laugh. She didn’t want to push Mac so she dropped the topic, for now.

*****

“Matty had a file about Mac’s dad,” Riley whispered over the phone. Mac was asleep on the couch in the front of the plane. He’d been running himself pretty ragged with his search for his father, so she hadn’t been surprised when he’d passed out shortly after takeoff. Riley only wished the flight was longer so he could have more time to rest.

“Whoa...You know, me and Matty just got into it pretty bad. Whatever she knows she ain’t spillin’. But I can tell you one thing, she genuinely thinks she is doing what is best for Mac.” Jack said from the other end of the phone.

“She’s lying to him and keeping things from him. She knows how crazy this has been making him, yet she stands by and does nothing,” Riley said in frustration.

“I know Riles….what does Mac think about all of this?”

“I haven’t told him yet. He’s given up on the search, Jack. He’s decided that he's done driving himself nuts over a man who he’s not sure even wants to talk to him,” Riley whispered sadly.

“Well, that’s a load of bull if I’ve ever heard one,” Jack said with a snort.

“What?” Riley asked in surprise.

“Angus MacGyver does not give up. He can try to convince himself that he will, but I know him. This thing with his dad is still going to be in the back of his head and it’s going to be nagging at him. In the entire time I’ve known him, he has never once left something unfinished, and this time is no different,” Jack said confidently. One of the knots that had formed in her stomach that morning in the elevator loosened a bit at Jack’s words.

“So you think I should show him the file?”

“I think if you give it to him and give him the option of reading it or not, he will most certainly read it.”

“Okay, I will give it to him, but I want us all to be there. Can you come over to Mac’s place when you get home?”

“Sure thing sweetie,” Jack said. Riley hung up the phone, feeling considerably better.

*****

When Riley handed him the flash drive later that night she could see the battle going on inside of him. He had been telling her and himself all day that he was over this whole thing, and now she had just handed him something that could bring him right back in and possibly change everything.

The stress in his eyes made Riley want to take the drive back and tell him that it was all a joke. That way he could go back to being at peace with his decision to stop his search.

She almost did take it back, but then his eyes changed. There was still worry and apprehension in them, but they looked more determined. Riley knew in that moment that Mac was going to look at the drive and she knew that he would stop at nothing to find his dad. It seemed like Jack had been right in thinking that Mac had been simply trying to convince himself that he was okay with giving up the search.

Riley breathed a sigh of relief because that meant that she had made the right choice in giving Mac the drive. He might not like what he found out, but at least he would have the answers he had so desperately been craving.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's information if you want to get in on the MacGyver Appreciation Fortnight action!!
> 
> http://macspaperclips.tumblr.com/post/178091723524/macgyver-appreciation-fortnight


End file.
